MANILA -- One of the biggest sports retailers in the world has opened what is possibly the largest sports store in the Philippines as it aims to make sports more accessible.

Located at Festival Mall in Alabang, the massive Decathlon store is filled with sports gear and apparel from aqua fitness and Zumba and yoga attire to fencing equipment, and more.

Decathlon is a 42-year old French company, which has 1,300 stores in 28 countries. Membership is free with benefits such as an extended two-year warranty on goods and exclusive invitations to Decathlon-organized events.

“Because it is our own brands, we are able to go down with the margin, and we are able to go down with the prices,” explained Thomas Schermann, store manager of Decathlon Philippines.

“In the beginning, Decathlon was just a retailer of famous brands, and one day we decided to build our own product, because it was easier to deliver, easier to produce. So we bought the first brand (cycling), then we bought the second one for swimming and diving, and water sports. Now we want to have one per sport,” shared Schermann.

Decathlon Philippines has sport-specific sections, which is different from how the company organizes its stores in other countries.

For example, while Decathlon stores abroad would have a Mountain Sports section, here in the Philippines, this is further divided into Hiking, Trekking, and Camping. Each section also has designated in-house experts for those newbie questions or expert discussions on both product and sport.

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The Quechua camping tent which can accommodate two to three persons can be set up in less than a minute.

“There are about 74 sports [found] in the store, and you can test everything in the store. There’s a playground outside, and there are many test zones in the store,” Schermann noted.

Testing the product is encouraged, and warranty policies are very generous with a return policy to ensure that customers find the right product for them. For example, if a shopper buys hiking shoes, the only sure way to test it is to go on an actual hike. The shoes can be returned to Decathlon to honor the warranty.

Here’s what you can see, test and possibly buy when you visit the newly opened Decathlon Philippines.

The basketball section has shoes, apparel and basketballs with a full-sized basketball hoop for ballers to test the Kipsta gear.

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Decathlon is a wonderful place to bring kids to introduce them to various sports like archery. Bows with suction cup arrows are a popular product to try out.

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Each section is devoted to a single activity and is expected to have everything you need for that sport. For example, for mountaineering and hiking, the shelves contain shoes, apparel, pitons, rope, and even binoculars.

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Decathlon has its own stringing machine for racket sports. The badminton sub-section even has its own Taraflex playing surface to try out the shoes.

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The Decathlon brands are not that well known in the Philippines. But some are very popular abroad. For example, Decathlon’s cycling brand B'Twin has won Cycling Weekly’s annual Value Bike of the Year for two years. B'Twin branded helmets, gloves, parts and accessories are also available.

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Decathlon prides itself in offering products for 74 athletic activities. Aside from basketball and running, niche sports like skateboarding, scooters, diving, and even ballet and equestrian sports are represented on the shelves!

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Decathlon displays also products by activity, each with its own assigned specialist. Shown here are shoes in the skateboard area. Shoes, apparel, safety equipment, and related accessories can be found in that sports’ section.

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A section of the store is set aside for Decathlon’s workshop. Besides fixing products that are returned, the workshop is fully equipped to personalize items bought in the store with embroidery and decal making machines.

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It’s the small touches that really show that Decathlon knows what it’s doing. Products are also recommended based on how often it is going to be used.

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If the indoor test areas aren’t enough, there’s a basketball court and an artificial grass area outside the store for more rigorous product testing.

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